Various types of security threats exist in modern computer networks. Such threats range from data exfiltration (e.g., an unauthorized entity gaining access to sensitive information, etc.), to attacks that disrupt the functioning of the network itself, to other forms of threats. In many cases, network security threats stem from malware present in the local network or the exploitation of vulnerabilities in the software deployed in the network. Protecting against these conditions is particularly challenging in the case of new types of malware and previously unknown software vulnerabilities, as in the case of zero-day attacks.
Behavioral analytics is a promising new field of networking security that looks to the observed behaviors in the network to identify potentially malicious conditions. For example, if a client device in the network is typically inactive at night, but suddenly starts uploading a large amount of data externally at 3:00 AM, this may indicate that data exfiltration is taking place.